Method of and apparatus for packaging a continuous strand



Oct, 4, 1955 w, w. DRUMMOND 2,719,351

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR PACKAGING A CONTINUOUS STRAND Filed Dec. 28, 19%

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN VEN TOR.

Warren Wendfl/ flrummona ATTDRNE Y5 Oct 4, 1955 w. w DRUMMOND METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR PACKAGING A CONTINUOUS STRAND 2 Sheets-Sheet Filed Dec.

INVENTOR. Warm/7 M m //fi/umn70/w A TTUR NE VJ United States Patent METHOD OF AND APPARATUS 1 R PACKAGING A CGNTINUUUS STRAND Warren Wendell Drummond, Anderson, S. C., assignor to Owens-(lowing Fiber-glee Corporation, a corporation of Delaware Application December 28, 1953, Serial No. dildwl 11 Claims. (CI. 28-21) This invention relates to a method of and apparatus for the packaging of a continuous strand which is particularly suitable for use with other means for forming the continuous strand, in some instances.

"he packaging of a continuous strand or thread, for example, threads or strands of textile materials, usually is done by winding the strand onto a high speed rotary package or bobbin in which the strand is pulled from its source by tension on the strand created by the bobbin or package on which it is being wound. If the strand has a fixed resistance to its movement, tension on the package is cumulative as the package builds up, tending to more and more tightly compress the inner windings of the strand and thus requiring special equipment to allow the package to be removed from its spindle and great care both in winding and unwinding to prevent tangles or snarls between adjacent or overlying loops in the package.

The problems of tension winding experienced in the winding of all textile strands or threads are particularly difiicult in the cases of materials which are initially formed as they are packaged, often by the tension placed on the strand by the packaging means itself. This is true of many synthetic materials such as rayon, nylon, glass fibers and other materials which are drawn or otherwise formed from streams of the substance. In the cases of materials of this kind the increased tension on the strand not only builds up and compresses the inner portions of the package but it tightly squeezes contacting portions of the strand together and, particularly where the material is coated with a lubricant, sizing or coating substance, it may cause the touching portions of the strand to adhere so tightly as to result in breakage or hopeless entanglement when it is attempted to unwind the strand.

Even if these problems of accumulating tension and adherence are overcome, packaging according to the conventional operation outlined above results in the strand being under tension throughout its length and requires the use of a high speed rotary device for applying the tension. This requirement is particularly objectionable where the strand being packaged is one which is formed at a high lineal speed. For example, glass fiber strands are made up of a large number of individual fibers each of which is attenuated from a molten glass stream at a lineal rate in excess of 10,000 feet per minute. Most desirably, the end of the strand should not be held by the packaging means in such a way as to apply tension throughout. the length of the strand but it should be free so that it can be directed into and accumulated in or upon packaging means or accumulating media of diiferent forms, sizes, and shapes for different end uses Without requiring totally different high speed rotary tension applying mechanisms.

In the co-pending application of Slayter and Drummond Serial No. 375,464 filed August 20, 19.53, a method for "ice handling a continuously formed strand which provides a free end is disclosed with many modifications thereof illustrating different manners in which the free end can be handled.

The present invention is an improvement upon the invention of the mentioned application and is more specifically concerned with the packaging of a continuous strand in such manner as to provide for its continuous lineal removal from the package. The removal of the strand continuously from the package is required in the textile industry where numbers of strands are assembled together and intertwisted to form threads or delivered directly into spinning frames, etc., in the production of textile materials.

it is, therefore, the principal object of this invention to provide a method and apparatus for the accumulation of a continuous strand in a package (from which it can continuously be removed) without the application of tension to the strand at the package; the strand being pulled by high speed instrumentalities and, according to the invention, slowed down and accumulated upon itself momentarily and then delivered to the package: or container in the accumulated and slowed down condition.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a method and apparatus for causing a lineally moving strand to double up upon itself progressively in loops or swirls and for delivering the loops and swirls continuously into a container whence they can later be removed with ease and without the likelihood of entanglement and snarling.

More specific objects and advantages will be better understood from the specification which follows and from the drawings, in which:

Fig. l is a somewhat diagrammatic view partly in elevation and partly in section illustrating the method of the invention as carried out, upon one form of apparatus also embodying the invention.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view in elevation on an enlarged scale showing a portion of the apparatus of the invention carrying out the doubling step of the method of the invention.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal view taken from the position indicated by the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a View in perspective of a package of continuous strand as produced according to the invention on the apparatus shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view partly in perspective of a modification of an apparatus and method embodying the invention and illustrating a different type of package produced thereby.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary plan view of portions of the apparatus shown in Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is a somewhat diagrammatic view partly in elevation and partly in section and illustrating a still further modification of apparatus for performing the method of the invention.

in describing the process and apparatus of the invention the formation, feeding and packaging of a continuously produced glass fiber strand will be used as an example. A glass fiber strand of the type employed in the textile field, in particular, or for accumulation with other similar strands into threads, cords, yarns, etc., may consist of as many as 200 individual fine glass fibers. In Fig. 1 a plurality of glass fibers 10 are shown as being attenuated frome fine streams of molten glass flowing from orifices 11 located in the bottom of a molten glass container 12. The fibers lid are accumulated into a strand 13 by being gathered together and fed over a guide 14 and led between the peripheries of a pair of coacting pulling wheels generally indicated at 15. The wheels are shown as having serrated peripheries but wheels of many types may be employed, their particular configuration. not constituting a part of the instant invention. The pulling wheels 15 are driven to produce a peripheral speed in the order of 10,000 feet per minute and are so spaced upon their axes that the strand 13 is tightly gripped between their peripheries and projected downwardly along a substantially lineal path.

A tank 16 may be provided for maintaining a supply of suitable coating material which is applied to the fibers 10 by being dripped onto the guide 14 from a tank nozzle 17.

In Fig. 1 there is shown a single strand interrupter generally indicated at 18 which consists of a pin wheel 19 (Figs. 2 and 3) having a hub 20 which carries a plurality of radially extending pins 21 and which is mounted on and rotated with a shaft 22. The shaft 22 may be journalled in a pair of bearings 23 and driven, for example, by a belt 24 from a motor 25.

As can best be seen in Figs. 2 and 3, rotation of the pins 21 across the path of the strand 13 engages the strand 13 at spaced points along its length with successive ones of the pins 21. Each time that a pin 21 crosses the path of the strand 13 the strand 13 is looped or folded over the engaging one of the pins 21 and projected downwardly between that one of the pins 21 and the next one of the pins 21 to form a loop indicated by the reference number 26 in Figs. 2 and 3. As the pin wheel 19 continues to rotate another one of the pins 21 engages the strand and crosses its path of movement forming another loop of the strand hanging between an adjacent pair of pins 21. Since the pin wheel 19 is revolving at a relatively high rate of speed, centrifugal force causes the loops 26 to slide outwardly on the pins 21 and finally to be thrown off the pins 21, each of them leaving its pin at approximately the same angular position of the particular pin 21 relative to the lineal path of the strand 13. By maintaining the lineal speed of the strand constant and by holding the speed of rotation of the pin wheel 19 constant, the length of strand depended between each successive pair of pins 21 can be precisely controlled and thus the amplitude of the wave formed by the successive loops 26 remains constant.

The strand 13 is, therefore, doubled upon itself progressively, being slowed down in its lineal speed by a ratio between unity and the length of strand depending between two adjacent ones of the pins 21. If the amplitude of the waves is to be smaller, the pin wheel 19 may be speeded up or a larger number of pins may be used. If the amplitude of the waves is to be larger, the pin wheel 19 may be slowed down or a lesser number of pins 21 may be employed. While eight pins 21 are shown on the pin wheel 19 in Figs. 13, this is merely illustrative and for some purposes as few as one or two pins may be employed while for others as many as, say, twenty pins may be employed.

By the repeated, spaced, engagement of the pins 21 with the strand 13, progressive spaced portions of the strand are momentarily retarded in their movement while intervening portions of the strand catch up with or pass the retarded portions. After the intervening portions are also retarded both the held and intervening portions are released by the pin wheel 19 due to the centrifugal force created by its rotation and the waves 26 discharged along a planar path extending more or less tangentially to the pin wheel 19. Figs. 13 do not, of course, precisely show the shapes assumed by the loops 26 of strand nor do they show the precise points at which the strand is engaged or discharged. Figs. 1-3 are merely illustrative of approxi' mate shapes and positions in which, by the process and apparatus of the invention, a high speed lineally movable strand is slowed down in its movement, doubled upon itself and released in a controlled manner for subsequent accumulation in a package.

In the apparatus illustrated in Fig. l the strand is accumulated in a protective bag 27 located in an upwardly open rotary tub 28. The tub 28 is mounted to rotate on a vertically extending shaft 29 carried by a bearing 30 and rotated by a belt 31 driven by a motor 32. In Fig. l the axis of the tub 28 is the same as the axis of the pin wheel 19. This coaxial relationship is not, however, essential to the operation of the invention and is merely illustrative of one arrangement which can be employed. Also in Fig. l the horizontal level of the pin wheel 19 is illustrated as being below the upper lip of the tub 28 and the edge of the bag 27. Again this is not critical and the vertical spacing of these mechanisms is determined by their relative size and speed and by the size and speed of the loops of strand thrown off the pin wheel 19.

Since the loops of strand thrown off the pin wheel 19 are thrown therefrom along a planar path (a path more or less tangential to the pin wheel 19) rotation of a generally cylindrical surface in such a manner as to intersect the path of projection of the loops of strand (again generally tangentially thereto) results in the loops of strand being collected on the rotating surface and pressed outwardly thereagainst bycentrifugal force created by rotation of the surface. With the amplitude of the waves of strand determined by the size and ratio of the rotation of the pin wheel 19 to the linear speed of the strand 13, the wave length of the strand on the cylindrical surface can be modified by varying the lineal speed of that surface relative to the progression speed of the strand waves as they leave the pin wheel 19. If, for example, the surface of the tub 28 or bag 27 is moving at the same lineal speed as the progression of the strand loops across the space after they are thrown off the pin wheel 19, the strand will accumulate on the bag 27 in waves of the same length as r projected off the pin wheel 19. Doubling the lineal speed of the wall of the tub 28 will approximately double the wave length and halving the lineal speed of the tub wall will reduce the length of the waves to approximately onehalf.

As the tub 28 continues to rotate, and the strand waves continue to be projected thereon by the pin wheel 19 they build upon the tub 28 or bag 27 and upon themselves in successively smaller helical layers with random dispersals of the portions of the strand constituting the waves so that, in general, the overlying strand lengths will not be parallel but located angularly with respect to each other to minimize adherence of the strand portions. Centrifugal force created by the rotation of the tub 28 compacts the helical layers of waves outwardly gradually building up what is called a cake package by reason of its overall appearance as illustrated in Fig. 4.

It will be observed that the outer surface of the package in Fig. 4 is slightly tapered, this resulting from a slight taper of the tub 28 and facilitating the removal of the package from the tub 28. In Fig. 4 an outermost layer of strand 33 is shown on the exterior of the package, this being the layer first formed and an inner layer 34 is shown, this being the layer last formed before the dofiing of the package. Of course, in Fig. 4 the package is shown removed from its protective bag 27. In the outer layer 33 there is shown a first end 35 and in the inner layer 34, a last end 36. When it is desired to remove the strand 13 from the package illustrated in Fig. 4 it may be removed from either end, i. e., either that end first into the tub 28, viz., the end 35, or that end last into the tub 28, the end 36, may be pulled and removed from the package. In some instances the package may be unwound by pulling both the ends 35 and 36 simultaneously.

A modification of both the method and apparatus embodying the invention is illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6. In these figures a strand 37 is shown as being fed by a pair of pulling wheels 38 and projected linearly into the overlapping paths of two pin wheels 39 and 40. Each of the pin wheels 39 and 40 may be substantially identical with i the pin wheel 19 of Figs. 1-3 and it may, as in that .case, have a greater or. lesser number of pins 41. As can be more clearly seen in Fig. 6 shafts 42 and 43,.respectively, of the pin wheels 39 and 40 are spaced from each other a distance such that the paths of movementof the pins 41 intersect or overlap. With the strand 37 projected into this intersecting o r overlapping portion of the paths of the pin wheels 39 and 40, the strand 37 is engaged successively by the pins .41 of the two wheels 39 and 40. Depending again upon the relationship between the lineal speed of the strand 37, the speed and number of pins 41 and their spacing and phase relationship, the strand 37 may be engaged by the pins 41 in such a manner as to produce strand doublings of different configurations. In Figs. 5 and 6 the two pin wheels 39 and 40 are shown as engaging the strand successively in a manner to produce a helical pattern having a generally horizontal axis slightly inclined away from the area of overlapping of the paths of the pins 41. Again, this path is not precisely shown in Figs. 5 and 6 but only generally indicated by convolutions 44 of the strand 37.

The convolutions 44 which may be a more or less planar wave, or a spiral, or various other forms and con figurations similar to or intermediate between these forms, are projected along a defined path as long as the relative speeds, spacing, etc., of the strand 37 and pin wheels 39 and 40 are maintained. The strand 37 may, therefore, be accumulated upon or packaged in a rotary pan 45 mounted for rotation on a shaft 46 and driven by a belt 47. The pan 45 may be designed to have a vertical wall 455 equal to or greater than the vertical extent of the convolutions 44 and, as in the case of the method and apparatus of Figs. 1-3, the convolutions of strand are compacted outwardly against the wall 48 by centrifugal force. Continuing operation produces compacted helical layers of strand within the accumulator pan 45.

In Fig. 7 there is illustrated a still further modification of the process and apparatus of the invention wherein the strand may be accumulated in a stationary open-topped package, in this case illustrated as a paper bag 49 supported with its mouth held upwardly and open by a ring 50 carried on a bracket 51. As in the other modifications of the invention, a strand 52 is projected linearly by a pair of cooperating pulling wheels 53 into the path of rotation of a plurality of pins 54 of a pin wheel 55. In this instance the pins 54 are illustrated as being bent slightly and loops 56 of strand may, if desired, be retained on the pins 54 for a greater or lesser angular travel depending upon the particular shape and length of the pins 54. After formation of the loops 56 over the pins 54, i. e., after the doubling of the strand upon itself, it may be released and thrown off the pins 54 by centrifugal force outwardly and downwardly into space in the manner of a travelling wave generally indicated at 57. The paper bag 49 is held in position such that the travelling wave 57 of the strand falls into its open upper end striking against its inner walls and falling both by its own impetus and by the action of gravity downwardly into the bag 49.

While no mechanical means is provided for compacting the loops and swirls of strand in the bag 49 in the apparatus of Fig. 7, the impetus of the strand doublings themselves will tend to compact the material and to eliminate arching and bridging of the strand portions.

Operation according to the invention provides for the continuous and progressive doubling up upon itself of a strand moving at a high speed along a lineal path, by causing spaced portions of strand to be at least momentarily retarded or stopped while other portions of the strand pass or catch up to the retarded portions. By tilting the axes of the pin wheels varying degrees, by varying the sizes, speeds, shapes and number of pins and by varying other relative speeds and sizes of the strand, the pin wheels and the accumulating means, different degrees of change of direction of movement, size of strand loops spaced fromeach other in the sections engaged by the strand to permit the strand to feed between successive ones to form the loops in the strand; they must be smooth and not small enough to sever the strand; they must have free ends to permit the strand to be thrown off; and they must be relatively lightweight and yet capable of being moved through a more or less certain path.

I claim:

1. A method for accumulating a mass of a continuous flexible strand that comprises feeding said strand longitudinally along a substantially linear path, interrupting the longitudinal movement of said strand by diverting progressively spaced portions of said strand from such path at a certain point along such path while following portions of said strand double upon themselves between such diverted portions, progressively releasing such doubled portions along a different path and catching such doubled portions on the surface of a container.

2. A method for accumulating a mass of a continuous flexible strand that comprises feeding said strand longitudinally along a substantially linear path, interrupting the longitudinal movement of said strand by laterally displacing progressively spaced portions of said strand while continuing the feeding of said strand along such path to the point of displacement thereby forming serially connected loops, moving said serially connected loops along a new path and depositing said loops on an accumulator in substantially the order of their formation.

3. A method for accumulating a mass of a continuous flexible strand that comprises feeding said strand longitudinally along a substantially linear path, interrupting the longitudinal movement of said strand by laterally displacing progressively spaced portions of said strand while continuing the feeding of said strand along such path to the point of displacement thereby forming serially connected loops, moving said serially connected loops along a new path leading angularly away from the first mentioned path at a speed related to the lineal speed of said strand in ratio to the degree of doubling of the strand in said loops and accumulating said loops in a container.

4. A method for accumulating a mass of a continuous flexible strand that comprises feeding said strand longitudinally along a substantially linear path, moving spaced strand engaging members transversely across said path at a speed substantially less than the lineal speed of said strand, removing the strand from said. members and catching the removed strand on an accumulator.

5. Apparatus for packaging a continuous flexible strand comprising, in combination, means for projecting said strand longitudinally along a generally linear path, means for laterally deflecting small portions of said strand at spaced intervals therealong and for carrying said deflected portions and the portions of said strand intervening therebetween along a second path and means. in said second path for accumulating said strand in superposed layers of loops.

6. Apparatus for packaging a strand according to claim 5 in which the means for laterally deflecting the strand is a device for repeatedly moving a pin across the path of said strand whereby the strand is looped over the pin and depends between successive pins in loops.

7. Apparatus according to claim 6 in which the accumulating means is an open topped container.

8. Apparatus according to claim 7 in which the open topped container is rotated so its wall continuously crosses the second path of said loops.

9. Apparatus for packaging a continuous flexible strand comprising, in combination, means for projecting said strand longitudinally along a generally linear path, means for moving a series of spaced pins across the path of said strand whereby said strand is looped over each of said pins as it crosses such path and depends in loops between successive pins, the last said means also acting to throw said loops serially off said pins and along a second path and a strand receptacle lying in said second path.

10. Apparatus according to claim 9 in which the means 10 for moving the pins across the strand path is a rotary wheel having at least two circumferentially spaced pins and that is mounted on an axis spaced so that said pins cross the path of said strand repeatedly.

11. Apparatus according to claim 10 in which the means for moving the pins consists of a pair of rotary pin wheels mounted upon axes with the paths of both sets of pins crossing the path of the strand.

No references cited. 

1. A METHOD FOR ACCUMULATING A MASS OF CONTINUOUS FLEXIBLE STRAND THAT COMPRISES FEEDING SAID STRAND LONGITUDINALLY ALONG A SUBSTANTIALLY LINEAR PATH, INTERRUPTING THE LONGITUDINAL MOVEMENT OF SAID STRAND BY DIVERTING PROGRESSIVELY SPACED PORTIONS OF SAID STRAND FROM SUCH PATH AT A CERTAIN POINT ALONG SUCH PATH WHILE FOLLOWING PORTIONS OF SAID STRAND DOUBLE UPON THEMSELVES BETWEEN SUCH DIVERTED PORTIONS, PROGRESSIVELY RELEASING SUCH DOUBLED PORTIONS ALONG A DIFFERENT PATH AND CATCHING SUCH DOUBLED PORTIONS ON THE SURFACE OF A CONTAINER. 